Goodbye Daniel
by spooky-fbi
Summary: This fic was inspired by a prompt on the kink meme, centred around the final scene between Regina and undead!Daniel in The Doctor. Rewritten to include sex, though it's more angsty than sexy, because Regina can never catch a break :(


Prompt: I know it's a little presumptuous considering the episode has not yet aired, but dammit, when he presses her up against the wall in the promo... he's probably trying to kill her, but with that forceful and intense look he has on, I feel like he's not going to do that without ravishing her first.

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"Daniel… It's me…" She could barely get the words out, but she fought as hard as she could. Daniel was in there somewhere; she knew it. She had to get through to him. She tried to draw breath but she couldn't, so with the remaining air left in her lungs she squeezed out all that was in her heart. "I love you."

Miraculously, the grip loosened just enough to allow Regina a few gasps, which she took desperately. She looked at Daniel, but he still had that distant, twisted expression on his face. His eyes met hers, and they weren't the eyes of a lover; not Daniel's eyes. There was something threatening in them. He made a grunting sound and pulled on her blouse with his free hand.

They hadn't been intimate before; they never got the chance. She'd been intimate with so many men since then, in a desperate attempt to fill the aching hole in her heart. This wasn't the tenderness that she'd dreamed of when they were planning their lives together all those years ago, but just having him standing here so close to her, alive, was more than she'd hoped for in a very long time, so she didn't dare question anything. She unbuttoned her blouse, searching his eyes for any remnants of her dear, departed Daniel. She still couldn't see it.

He pressed himself up against her, grinding their bodies together, and she felt his hardness grow next to her thigh. When she began to put her arms around him, he growled at her, and his grip around her throat tightened. She panicked and tried to push him away, but he was too strong. A few seconds later he loosened his grip and hitched up her skirt. It was meant as a warning, she realized. Whatever this creature was that was standing before her, and it certainly wasn't Daniel, didn't intend for her to enjoy this.

Oh, but she still wanted to believe that her Daniel was somewhere beneath this monster, wanted it so badly she could taste it. He slid down his own pants and pushed himself inside her, and she let him. She cried out in pain, but she wouldn't stop this sweet agony for all the world. This was her happy ending, or as close to it as she was ever going to get given the circumstances, and she welcomed it.

It was then that she realized what this monster truly was. He wasn't Daniel the man; the man who had lived and loved and hoped and planned a life with her. No, what was standing in front of Regina now, pounding into her with all the ruthlessness of a monster, was Regina's own twisted pain and anger and resentment wrapped up in the memory of the day he had died in her arms. It was her own dark soul reflected back at her. It was all the cruel things she had done to so many countless people. She had besmirched the memory of a wonderful, beautiful, kind man by remembering nothing of him but the image of his heart turned to dust and scattered on the floor, and the misery her life had become since then. And now that was all he could be to her.

She focused on the pain between her legs now, using it to chip away at all the anger and hate and bitterness that had consumed her life for so very, very long. She searched her mind for a happy memory of her time with Daniel, something untouched by the pain of his death. She found it, something she'd long since forgotten until now. Back, so very long ago, when she was still just beginning to notice boys. He was only a year older than her, but he'd seemed so worldly to Regina back then. He'd teased her for the way she rode her horse, and although she thought she should be mad, she couldn't help but smile at him.

She smiled now as she remembered that day, and for the first time, she didn't feel the pain of having Daniel ripped away from her, only the joy of the fact that she'd known him. She felt the creature climax inside of her and then slowly pull away. The hand on her throat moved up to her cheek and gently wiped away a tear she didn't know she'd shed. She looked up at his face and finally she saw him. Her sweet, beloved Daniel's eyes were staring back at her!

"Thank you." He said earnestly.

Regina let out a joyful laugh and threw her arms around him. "Daniel," she sobbed, "I can't believe it's really you!" He held her tightly and for a few moments the two of them simply stood there, enjoying an embrace they both knew couldn't last.

"Regina," Daniel said finally, "You have to let me go."

"No." She shook her head, not bothering to hold back her tears. "I don't want to lose you again."

"I know." he whispered softly, kissing her forehead, her cheek, her lips. When the kiss broke, she rested her head on his shoulder. "But I don't belong here, not like this. Not with someone else's heart beating in my chest. You have to set me free." She clung onto him tightly, but she knew he was right. "Just promise me you'll remember good things about me, okay? Only good things." She nodded into his chest, unable to stop the sobs even if she'd cared to. Without breaking their embrace, she reached into his chest and pulled out the heart that resided in there. She didn't know who's it was, but she felt compelled to return it to its owner. It's something she knew Daniel would want her to do, something that the person she could remember being when she knew him would have done. She put it in the pocket of her blazer and took in one last look of Daniel; his sweet, caring eyes, his tender smile, his strong embrace. She could barely breathe through the sobs that wracked her body as she waved her hand in front of him and he melted away into dust.

"Goodbye, Daniel."


End file.
